Hilo Muni duo claims 4-Ball title

By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer

When the eagle landed last night, Kevin Hayashi and Rodney Acia had their first Aloha Section PGA Golf Concepts 4-Ball Match Play Championship. Larry Stubblefield and Andrew Feldmann had been hit by one too many Hayashi bombs.

Kevin Hayashi, left, and Rodney Acia were all smiles during the final of the Aloha Section PGA Golf Concepts 4-Ball Match Play Championship at O'ahu Country Club. "Rodney keeps me laughing on the golf course, kind of at ease," said Hayashi. Kyle Sackowski • The Honolulu Advertiser

That followed a 20-footer for birdie on the previous hole, which Stubblefield covered from seven feet, and two other 20-something birdie putts on the front nine. Those gave Hayashi and Acia a lead they eventually relinquished on the 17th hole, when Stubblefield dropped a 12-foot birdie putt.

"Four bombs, he made four," Stubblefield said. "To him, they were 20 feet, but they were 35 feet at least."

"Kevin is just a great putter," Feldmann said. "He can consistently makes putts like that. He's the best putter in the state."

Hayashi and Acia might be the best golf tag team in the state. But Feldmann and Stubblefield are breathing down their polo shirts.

The Hilo Muni pros won the section's Scotch 4-Ball Championship from 1998-2000. They lost their title four months ago, to Feldmann and Stubblefield, on the sixth extra hole at Hapuna.

That provided incentive this week. But Feldmann and Stubblefield had home field advantage. Feldmann is OCC's head pro, and Stubblefield spent the last several years honing his Hawai'i Golf Hall of Fame game at OCC.

"We seem to play very well as a team," Stubblefield said. "We get along very well. There's nothing that either one of us seems to do that upsets the other guy."

Acia and Hayashi, who have been playing together since 1996, have an even easier rapport.

"Rodney keeps me laughing on the golf course, kind of at ease," said Hayashi, the 1999 Aloha Section Player of the Year. "I tend to be hard on myself sometimes. If Rodney can laugh at himself, I guess I can do the same."

Hayashi provided the fireworks yesterday, as he often does. Acia was the silent partner in a format where the best score of each team counts. He made four nerve-wracking putts to cover the OCC pros as they tried to cut their deficit.

Acia, 54, finally ran out of clutch putts. Stubblefield won the 14th hole (par 5) with birdie — nearly chipping in — and the 17th (par 4) with another, despite hitting his drive over the green.

Feldmann sent the match into overtime with an eight-footer to tie on the next hole.

The two May-December golf marriages — Acia and Stubblefield play senior events while Hayashi and Feldmann haven't hit 40 — each finished 18 holes at 5-under par. They played the two extra holes in a combined five under.

Hayashi's winning eagle was nearly half that. He drilled a 2-iron second shot to the green, then turned the lights out as the sun started to set.

"I told Rodney if he could chip close I could putt my normal putt instead of trying to protect for the birdie," Hayashi said. "Rodney put it (his third shot) up close and I felt good in my putting all day. I felt I was going to make it."

So did his opponents.

"He always makes the putts," Stubblefield said.

SHORT PUTTS: In the semifinals, Rodney Acia and Kevin Hayashi beat defending champions Tommy Hines and Beau Yokomoto, 4 and 3, and Andrew Feldmann and Larry Stubblefield ousted Brad Bowen and Eddie Lee, 1-up. ... Mike Iyoki had a hole-in-one during Thursday's morning round, acing the 211-yard fourth hole with a 4-iron. ... The winners split $2,500, while the runner-up team split $1,500.